By Divyanshu Sharma
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The United Nations Conference on Human Environment took place in 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden. This conference was the first global level conference for protection of the human habitat. India took a significant part in it. This conference delineated several principles for protection of global climate, rivers and other water bodies, and the atmosphere. Based on the principles that were talked over in the conference, Indian Parliament passed the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974. The objective behind this Act is to regulate the activities that affect water resources, control all forms of polluting activities and restore the water bodies to its pristine condition.
This Act
was highly debated in the Parliament because Water, as a legislative issue,
comes under the jurisdiction of the State List. Thus, the Central government
inherently had no right to pass this legislation. However, the Parliament
invoked its power under Article 252(1), which states that the Parliament can
legislate on State issues subject to prior approval from the State
Legislatures. This prior approval was the reason that the Act and its
provisions were initially applicable only on 12 States and all the Union
Territories.
Regulating
Bodies
The Act
establishes Board for Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, at both
Central and the State level. Section 3 of the Act establishes a Central Board,
consisting of at max 17 people, consisting of representatives of different
stakeholders like Government Companies, Central Government and agriculturists.
The board is to be headed by a Chairman. Similarly, section 4 of the Act
establishes a State Board in each state. The state board too shall consist of
maximum 17 people, including a Chairman. As per section 5 of the Act, the term
of all these members is maximum 3 years, but they too are subject to
disqualification, on grounds of any misconduct by the officials.
Section
16 of the Act enlists the various jobs of the Central Board which range from
creating awareness about water pollution, to regulating the activities of all
the State Boards to giving advice to the Central government. Similarly, section
17 states that the State Board shall advice the state government on how to
tackle the problem of water pollution, inspecting water sewage sites and etc.
An
innovative feature of this Act is that section 13 of the Act allows for the
establishment of Joint Boards between two or more states, or between the
Central government and State governments, on the basis of an agreement between
the parties. This board is generally created for a specific period of time, on
the expiry of which, the time period can be extended. As per section 14(1) of
the Act, the joint board is to consist of representatives of all member states
and an unbiased Chairman, who has the necessary experience.
Approved
Steps To Curb Water Pollution
Chapter 5
of the Act deals with the inherent powers with the Central and the State
governments to curb water pollution. Section 19 of the Act establishes a unique
provision, wherein the State government, after consultation with the State
Board, can restrict the jurisdiction of the Board to certain specific sites in
the state. This means that the jurisdiction of the board is not necessarily
over the entire state. This jurisdiction can be limited to certain areas which
require the immediate attention of the board. But such areas need to be
declared by the State government in the Official Gazette.
Then,
section 21 allows a state board to obtain samples from any water site and send
the same for testing. But the sample that is collected is to be sent to two
different laboratories, for confirmation of the authenticity of the report.
Section 23 of the Act allows the State Board to enter any property to perform
such functions as has been listed in the Act. Section 24 of the Act is one of
the most stringent sections of the Act. This section lays down that any person
who knowingly pollutes any water body or enters any stream with the intention
to pollute its water, shall be liable for punishment. However, section 24(2)
reduces the sternness of clause 1 of this section by stating that creation of a
dam, reservoir, or adding of any natural silt to a stream shall not be seen as
a polluting act.
Section
25 of the Act establishes the State Board at an authoritative position, wherein
any new industrial plant or sewage mechanism requires prior permission from the
State Board. Violation of this provision is punished stringently by the Board.
Section 27 states that the State Board has the power to revoke the permission
given under section 25 of the Act. This Chapter gives wide ranging powers to
the State Board and the State government to fulfil the object of controlling
water pollution.
Penalising
Powers Of The Board
The
powers given to the Water Boards are legislative and executive in nature. As we
have seen above, the state boards draft guidelines for controlling water
pollution, which have to be strictly followed by all the people within the
state. Secondly, the board has the power to register any complaint against an
individual or a firm for violation of the rules. Similarly, the Act specifies
that any court has the power to impose fines and sentence incarceration for the
violation of any of the above mentioned provisions. Section 49 of the Act
specifies that no court below the rank of Judicial Magistrate First Class has
the power to try an offence under this Act.
The act
of instituting a false complaint or knowingly giving incorrect information attracts
a fine of ten thousand rupees or even up to three months imprisonment, under
section 42 of the Act. Similarly, section 43 states that failure to take
necessary permissions under section 24 of the Act can lead to up to one and a
half year of imprisonment, along with fine.
This
legislation appears to be quite harsh in case of repeated offences. Section 45
provides that if a person repeats a particular offence, then the person can be
subject to up to seven years of imprisonment along with fine. Section 46
provides that if a person repeats an offence, then a court has the power to
publish the name and address of the offender, along with specification related
to the offence and the punishment imposed.
Conclusion
During
1970s the world saw a new wave of thoughts dealing with control of different
forms of pollution. One such form was the water pollution. In consonance with
the global thinking, the Indian Parliament introduced the Water (Prevention and
Control of Pollution) Act 1974 to tackle the problem of water pollution. The
Act is a comprehensive piece of legislation, which provides for Water Control
Boards to be established at the Central and the State level, as regulatory
bodies. The Act provides multiple powers to the board, to deal with this problem.
Then, the Act is a penalizing statute which provides for multiple offences
which can be committed under the Act and their consequent punishments. All in
all, this Act is a good step taken by the Central government to deal with a
prominent problem of water pollution.
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Divyanshu Sharma is a 2nd Year Law student at National Law University, Delhi. An avid researcher, he enjoys reading about several contemporary legal and political issues. He is passionate about the feminist aspect of law and likes to understand law in this direction. His core interests include Constitutional Law and Commercial Law.
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